The winner of the 2017 PA Outstanding Contribution Award is Stephan A. Schwartz. This yearly award is given to a PA Professional or Associate Member who has made an outstanding research or service contribution that has advanced the discipline of parapsychology.

Stephan Schwartz has been the PA Spokesperson since 1996. In that role he has represented the PA by answering literally thousands of inquiries sent to us by laypeople, scientists, journalists, radio hosts, documentary filmmakers, and just about everyone else you can imagine.

Stephan's background in media relations is unique within parapsychology, and that experience has served him well in this important volunteer position. To list just a few of his distinguished accomplishments, in past roles he was a speechwriter for the Chief of Naval Operations, the highest-ranking operations officer in the US Navy; for President Richard Nixon; for Secretary of Defense, James Schlesinger; and for the Secretary of the Navy, John Warner. He helped found the journal Subtle Energies, which for many years was one of the primary scholarly outlets for health and healing-related studies, and he was an editorial staff member for National Geographic magazine. He wrote, produced and directed numerous films and videos on psi-related topics as well as more mainstream topics, including an ABC television network prime time special on psychic detectives.

Stephan's background in applying psi is also unique in parapsychology. His archaeological expeditions to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Lake Erie, Alexandria Egypt, and Catalina Island, all used remote viewing data to help successfully locate lost underwater artifacts.

He has written many scholarly papers about the science and sociolopolitics of psi, as well as written many articles for popular outlets like the Huffington Post to more mainstream outlets like American Heritage, American History, Smithsonian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

He is a founding or co-founding member of the Society for the Study of Consciousness; the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness (which is now a unit of the American Anthropological Association); and the International Remote Viewing Association.

These and many other unique experiences have more than qualified Stephan for representing the PA to the public and to the media, and we are most fortunate that he agreed to take on that often unseen and unheralded task. By giving Stephan this award, we can finally remove the unheralded aspect of that job, and publicly acknowledge our gratitude for his valuable and continuing assistance.